ON THE THIRD DAY

ELO's steady process of improvement continued with On the Third Day, which features a streamlined sound which manages to be catchy without sacrificing too much in the way of complexity. Album opener King of the Universe sounds like Jeff Lynne trying to be Freddie Mercury, songs such as Showdown and Ma-Ma-Ma-Belle take a symphonic prog approach and apply it to short and snappy pop numbers, and closer In the Hall of the Mountain King is one of the few rock adaptations of classical music standards which succeeds at sounding appreciably different from The Nice/ELP and their imitators. ELO might have tried their damnedest on their first couple of albums, but they only awoke to their true potential On the Third Day. (Pun very much intended.)